Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Odin Blood Series Blog Tour

I am so excited to be participating in this tour. I have heard such wonderful things about Ronnell's books and those covers are gorgeous. There is an excerpt, guest post, and amazing giveaway. But first let's get to know more about Ronnell and his books.

Ronnell D. Porter was raised in Ogden,
Utah, and now resides in Denver, Colorado.
During his free time he plays the violin, dabbles in graphic design, and, of course,
thoroughly enjoys writing stories. He believes that a novel written simply to
entertain does its readers a disservice; instead, a book's narrative should
always change the way we perceive the world around us, and grant us a little
more wisdom than we had when starting the story.

Content Warning: It
does contain some graphic fantasy violence as there is a sequence wherein an
army of undead invades the heroine's homeland, and a Tolkien-ish battle ensues.
16+ recommended

Note:Dagger Heart is currently FREEon
Amazon!

Synopsis:

Norway, 704 A.D.

The valiant King Ulfur defeated the evil that swept the
seaside village
of Nornör into despair;
Morgan, the demon witch, has been dead for nearly twenty years. The truce
between King Úlfur and the Queen of the Fae has remained intact since the day
that Morgan’s dark curses vanished. It seemed that peace had finally come to
the wounded souls of the village.

But this peace is shaken when three curses that Morgan
promised with her dying breath are placed upon the Norwegian village: who among
them has cast the spell?

Seventeen-year-old Erica finds herself trapped in the
middle of a witch’s deadly revenge scheme with no way out but to fight for
survival. On top of trying to end the curses devouring her village like a
savage beast she finds herself at the center of attention when it comes to
Viking King Úlfur’s three sons: Kriger, Paul, and Finn.

"You know not of King Bersek, Lord of Berserkers... The Berserkers
are men of darkness; heartless and unyielding. They know no fear, they know no
pain – and the sound of them ripping and slashing and tearing people apart by
their limbs: chaos incarnate."

One year after
triumphing over the events surrounding the cursed Blackthorn Dagger, Queen
'Dagger Heart' Erica receives an ominous warning from a group of survivors that
arrives in her village
of Nornör: an army like
no other, steeped in dark necromancy, heads for her Norwegian shores. With the
winter solstice quickly approaching and no sign of the black wolf that used to
roam the woods of her lands, she races against time to uncover the mystery of
The Necromancer, as well as the absence of her dear friend and love, Finn.

The soft candlelight lit her room with hot yellow flickers of flame as
she held a black iron jewelry box in her lap. It was so intricate, so lovely,
and it allowed her to not only read Finn’s words of love, but to run her
fingers across them so that she knew that he was real, that the feeling of his
love wasn’t just the fading dream of a naïve girl. When she closed her eyes and
held the jewelry box close to her, she could almost see his round face, his
dark hair, brows, and lashes contrasted against the pallor of his skin, and
those eyes that always seemed to catch whatever light was near to make them
glow, even with the faintest of rays in the night. They were the eyes of the
Fae blood within him, eyes that held an ancient magic and natural wisdom pooled
in shades of forest green.

Finn rolled onto his side and took her hand into his. He left soft
kisses along her hand, her wrist, and slid his body against hers.

"I want you to know that I'd decided never to leave your side
again," he said. He looked suddenly uncomfortable, his brow strewn
together and his jaw clenched tightly. Then he finally drew in a deep breath
through his nose and nodded to himself.

"Before I returned here, I think I was starting to forget what it
was like to be human... To be me. Emotions were starting we feel dulled, and
something like a memory. Suddenly what was important in my like didn't seem to
matter much; my old life, the death of my brothers, my mother, my father...
Even you. I almost didn't return to Nornör at all, but something inside of me -
maybe the last little piece of humanity inside of me - urged me back here. And
suddenly, when I saw you again, all of the parts of me that got lost inside of
that wolf's body began to come back together. Suddenly I felt fire again, and
passion, and I felt that there was something that gave my life meaning again.
When I held you for the first time, I felt whole again."

Finn grew bolder, and nodded to himself.

"I can't risk forgetting who I am again - but more importantly, I
can't risk forgetting what you mean to me."

"I don't think you ever would have forgotten who you are,"
Erica said.

"You won't," Erica whispered. She cradled his head against her
chest and let him rest there as she tangled her fingers into his thick black
hair. "I promise that you'll never have to go another day of your life
without me there to remind you of who you are. You are Finn Úlfurson, the man
that I have loved since the first time we ran through the woods and howled
together like maniacs."

Finn chuckled against her, and lifted his head.

"And you are
Erica, great leader to the people of Nornör, and the woman I have loved since
you struck me over the head with a rock."

Guest Post:

What would you like your
readers to take away from your book?

Dagger Heart was
more or less written for a female readership. Even if this book is deemed a
passing cursory tale of violent Vikings, if readers walk away with but one message, it would be to the women
who have read it, both the young and wise, and that message would be to protect
your rights. A right is defined as that which is morally correct, just, and
honorable. And unfortunately, even today, in 2013, there exists no human
society where every right is given
and protected. But many of us have the fortune of living in a society where
most of them are granted and lawfully protected. A great many of the
individuals who can sit down and read this blog post have more protected
privileges than hundreds of millions of women around the world have. And in the
past these rights have had to be debated for, fought for, and voted for, until
they were effectively given. This is not a job that is finished, it is not
something that should be taken for granted, nor do I think any free,
independent woman reading this takes them for granted. But silent appreciation
tends to lead to a certain comfort-zone, and that's when things usually begin
to come under question by those who would set the human race back a few
decades. So it does need to be said now and then to remind us all that rights
must be consistently brought up, openly spoken for, and openly appreciated to
remind everyone that they are, by their definition, the moral, just, and honorable
way. Therefore if someone takes anything away from Dagger Heart and Ebon Heart,
I would like it to be speak out for, fight for, and protect your right to be a
free woman, and the rights of other men and women to live as they wish.